2010 Senior Championship

Geevagh 0-14
Shamrock Gaels 0-07

Geevagh emerged with a seven point win over neighbours, Shamrock Gaels in a pulsating encounter at Corran Park on Sunday afternoon. Whilst Geevagh were worthy winners, with a powerful performance decorated with some fine scores, Shamrock Gaels will look back at a missed penalty, a sending off and the loss of key players through injury as well as wasteful finishing and wonder at what might have been.

Geevagh got off to a flying start and were six points up without reply after twelve minutes. The first of these scores came with a sweetly hit shot off the left boot by Niall McDonagh on five minutes, followed a minute later by another from Enda McManus. Geevagh won possession from the resultant Gaels kick-out and Mc Donagh was again on target with his second point of the afternoon. David O'Reilly followed this on eight minutes with another point before Gaels' keeper, Mark Tuohy, had to be alert a minute to palm Pat Cawley's effort over the bar for another Geevagh score. Cawley was again on target three minutes later when a Gaels attack broke down by a good interception by the Geevagh defence, with Geevagh sweeping up the field to find Cawley in space.

Geevagh were dominating proceedings at this stage, especially around midfield area and could have been further ahead but for some wasteful finishing by Kenneth Sweeney, who had two wides in quick succession. Derrick Davey finally got the Gaels on the scoresheet with a point following a neat pass from Joe Quinn on sixteen minutes and Frank Quinn followed this up with a pointed free from the 45 metre line a minute later. Cormac Hughes should have pointed on nineteen minutes when Geevagh broke down yet another Gaels attack and swept upfield, but his effort was well wide of the posts. Joe Quinn opened his account for the Gaels on twenty minutes with a pointed free and followed this up two minutes later with another pointed free, a fine effort from the right to reduce the deficit to two points. Patrick Hughes extended Geevagh's lead again however on twenty two minutes with a great conversion of a '45'. The Gaels then had a let-off a minute later when the ball was fisted to the net, however the goal was disallowed due to a square ball infringement.

Shamrock Gaels had considerably upped their work rate at this stage and whilst they were on top in most sectors, they couldn't convert this dominance into scores. Frank Quinn should have pointed on twenty six minutes when the Geevagh keeper, Mark McGrath fisted the ball clear, however Quinn's effort tailed to the right and wide. Joe Quinn did keep the Gaels in touch however with a nice turn and point on twenty seven minutes to again reduce the deficit to two. The Gaels continued to apply pressure and recorded three wides in a row from Joe Quinn, Frank Quinn and substitute, Vinny Boyd, some of these kicks being from scoreable positions. Keith McMorrow for Shamrock Gaels and David O'Reilly for Geevagh were both booked in separate incidents as the tension mounted during the final stages of the half. The Gaels were to rue these missed chances however and went into the half-time break trailing by two points on a scoreline of 0-7 to 0-5 in favour of Geevagh.

Upon the resumption, Tuohy again had to be alert in the Gaels net to deny a point-blank effort by the Geevagh full forward, Cormac Hughes, after just thirty seconds and this was followed up a minute later with a wide from a sideline kick by Patrick Hughes. Kenneth Sweeney was on target with two pointed frees and both himself and Keith McMorrow for the Gaels then exchanged wides in the following two minutes. Keith Mc Grath fired over an excellent point for Geevagh from out on the right on nine minutes to extend his sides lead to five points and at this stage the Gaels were in all sorts of trouble. Frank Quinn was again off target on ten minutes before the Gaels were handed a lifeline on when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Quinn. Joe Quinn's weakly struck effort was easily saved by McGrath however and things went from bad to worse for the Gaels when Vinnie Boyd was red-carded as Geevagh sought to clear their lines from the missed penalty. These few minutes were to prove decisive, as Geevagh seized the initiative, with David O'Reilly getting on the end of a good move to send over an excellent point. Joe Quinn was then off-target for the Gaels with a scoreable free on fifteen minutes and Keith McGrath responded with a well struck free on eighteen minutes to extend his side's lead to seven points. The Gaels had another let-off on twenty two minutes when Cormac Hughes was wide of the mark when a goal chance seemed on.

Geevagh were well on top at this stage and substitute Darren Kearns sent over a good point on twenty three minutes to put the victors eight ahead. Joe Quinn finally pulled one back for the Gaels a minute however the Gaels were now resorting to shooting from distance as the Geevagh defence were well marshalled. Frank Quinn was wide of the mark on twenty five minutes and Geevagh gained possession from the resultant kickout to again work the ball upfield to Cormac Hughes, who made no mistake with another good point. Enda Tuohy was off target for the Gaels on twenty seven minutes and whilst Joe Quinn rounded off the scoring with a well taken point on twenty nine minutes, it was too little too late for the Gaels as Geevagh ran out deserved winners on a scoreline of 0-14 to 0-7.

Teams and scorers; Geevagh - Mark McGrath, Kevin Byrne, Patrick Cawley (0-2), Patrick Hughes (0-1), Sean O'Rourke, David O'Reilly (0-2), Kenneth Sweeney (0-3), Niall Mc Donagh (0-2), Cormac Hughes, Enda McManus (0-1), Keith McGrath (0-2), Stephen Mullaney. Subs; Darren Kearns (0-1) for David O'Reilly.

Shamrock Gaels - Mark Tuohy, Colin Harte, James Lyons, Keith McMorrow, Paul Higgins, Paul Brennan, Liam O'Connell, Jarlath Lyons, Enda Tuohy, John Paul Henry, Conor Mullen, Frank Quinn (0-1), Joe Quinn (0-5), Damien Lyons, Derrick Davey (0-1). Subs; Vinnie Boyd for J P Henry (inj), Eoin McDermott for Jarlath Lyons (inj), Paddy O'Grady for Derrick Davey.